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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A Full-Length Series I Worked On: The Gap

For quite a few months covering the end of last year and the first part of this one, I was the second DP on a locally produced web/TV show. I say web because it was distributed on YouTube and Blip.tv and TV because it was aired on Comcast's Utah On Demand Channel. Created by Chris Henderson (whom I've worked with before), the show is a tribute to what you can do with very little money and a whole lot of drive. I really liked working on it and wish my schedule would have been such that I could have contributed more (I was supposed to direct one episode).

For regular visitors to this blog, it may interest you to know that this entire show was shot with a first-generation PVC stabilizer rig. No tripods were used. Chris wanted a look similar to the Johnathan Demme film, Rachel Getting Married. He wanted somewhat of a shaky-cam, documentary feel, but once told me that the rig worked almost too well, eliminating a lot of shake that he wanted more of. Oops.

With a budget coming in at around $5000, Chris has achieved quite a feat. Remember, this isn't an 80-minute feature, but a thirteen part show with full-length (30 minute) episodes. He's proof that we can all do the same thing if we get all our ducks in a row and have them follow us into battle. The first episode of The Gap is embedded above. Check it out and if it draws you in, watch the next twelve. If nothing else, you have more proof that the web lets the little guy get his ambitious vision to the masses.

Chris is a also contributing writer to this blog. Please read his excellent three-part series entitled "Casting Your Microbudget Film". You'll be glad you did. I hope to hear more from Chris in the future, not only on this blog, but in whatever project he brings to the internet.